QFDiEl SEI-TEMBEK 23, 1911.
THE PASSING OF LIEUT. R. A. CAMMELL, R.E.
ANOTHER sad fatality has occurred temporarily marring the
triumphant progress of flight in this country and bringing home to
the public the heroic self-sacrifice of these Army and Naval officers
who have voluntarily, and for the most part at their own expense,
devoted themselves to the perfecting of aviation in the interests of
national defence.
It was while making a trial flight on one of the new Valkyrie
monoplanes presented by Mr. II. Barber to the War Office that
Lieut. Cammell met his death.
Throughout Sunday last he had been busily engaged in testing
the new Gnome engine that had been fitted to the monoplane, and
soon after 6 o'clock, when the breeze that had prevailed all through
the day had moderated, he set out to make a preliminary flight on
the machine. After his first circuit, during which he flew quite
steadily and rose to 100 ft., he attempted a spiral vol plane, and
this proved his undoing, for he lost control and fell to the ground.
Although some signs of life were evident while he was being
extricated from the wreckage of the machine, he had breathed his
last by the time he was received at the hospital.
Lieut. Cammell, who was only 25 years of age, was one of the
•cleverest pilots of the British Air Battalion. With the advent of
the aeroplane he abandoned his work in connection with the Army
dirigible balloons in favour of this more successful method.
He won his brevet on a Bristol biplane at the Salisbury Plain
school on the last day of the year 1910, and during the following
April he gained experience in piloting the Bleriot monoplane, a type
of machine which he had since flown with commendable success.
Last Sunday he was commencing his experience with one of the
British-built Army Valkyries with a view to , flying it over to his
headquarters at Farnborough.
Clever pilot that he undoubtedly was, we cannot but decry the
lack of caution that prompted him to attempt so much on a power-
fully-engined aeroplane without previous experience in the pilot's
seat of a school machine of a similar type.
Had he taken this precaution no tragedy need have happened, for
he would have been enabled, under conditions of minimum risk, to
accustom himself to the controls—controls which, outwardly, bear
so much resemblance to the Farman, but which are so entirely
different in operation.
We are sure our readers join with us in extending our sympathy
to the relatives and friends of the late officer, and to Mr. H. Barber,
of the Valkyrie Aeronautical Syndicate, who are deeply grieved by
the sad catastrophe.
Lieut. R. A. Cammell, the distinguished Array aviator who
-was killed at Hendon on Sunday last.
THE INQUEST.
AT the inquest held at Hendon regarding the fatal accident to
Lieut. R. A. Cammel, R.E., whilst flying a Valkyrie machine, a
verdict of "death by misadventure" was returned by the jury,
sympathy with the relatives of the deceased and the Army being
expressed. From the evidence it emerged that the actual cause of
death was concussion of the brain, and it appeared that the aviator
was thrown clear of the machine and struck the ground with his
head, the engine in no way touching him in connection with the fall.
Lieut. A. G. Fox's evidence went to show that Lieut. Cammell
had never flown this type of machine before.
Mr. H. Barber, of the Valkyrie Aeronautical Syndicate, stated
that he saw the accident. He had presented the Government with
four machines, three with engines and one without. This machine
had had an engine in, and been thoroughly tested in the air with a
50-h.p. Gnome. That was about six weeks ago. No one else bad
tested it besides witness, but he had no trouble with it. The engine
was taken out about a month ago, and about ten days ago Lieut.
Cammell brought his engine to be put in. They had a great deal of
trouble with it, and it had to be taken off and put in two or three
times before the mechanics could put it right. Witness had
instructed Lieut Cammell as a passenger on a similar machine
before. It was a Valkyrie, and a type quite of its own.
He thought the engine was very dirty, but he left the mechanics
who were handling it alone. They thought the shaft was untrue,
but he believed they convinced themselves that it was all right. In
regard to the actual fatality, Lieut. Cammell commenced to fly about
5.40 p.m. It was understood he should have half an hour's
practice before flying to Farnborough. He started from the north
east corner of the aerodrome, and it was at once seen that he took
his turns much too sharply. After a circuit and a half he com
menced to vol plane, and while doing so he turned sharply to the
left, permitting the machine to bank up too much, where
upon it side-slipped to the ground. He thought the accident
could be accounted for in connection with the control. In
his machine it appeared to be about the same as on the
Farman machine, on which deceased had obtained his certificate,
but they did not have exactly the same effect. The accident was
caused through the machine turning over. To turn on a Farman
you must work levers, but in his machine, as in certain others, you
must use your right foot to work the rudder, and operate the lever
at the same time. It appeared to him that deceased worked his
lever, but not his rudder. Lieut. Cammell was apparently trying at
the time of the accident a spiral vol plane descent, much too much to
have attempted, and that might have been the cause of the mishap.
Mr. Barber said he was very upset when he heard that Lieut.
Cammell intended to fly straight to Farnborough on the machine.
Capt. Lorraine, of the Grenadier Guards, a pupil at Hendon,
who saw the accident, corroborated Mr. Barber's evidence. He
thought the deceased turned too sharply.
Sergeant Frederick Unwin, of the Royal Engineers, who helped
to fix the engine to the machine, said that the engine was bought
new but had been used several times, and after it had been repaired
at Farnborough it was finally put on the machine at Hendon, and
it was then quite all right. He thought that Lieut. Cammel's
accident was due to his not using the control properly. The
wreckage was not on him at all, he being surrounded by it, and the
engine appeared to be all right. Corporal Stafford considered the
accident was caused by the machine turning too sharply.
Maj. Sir Alexander Bannerman, in command of the Air Battalion
of the Royal Engineers, said the deceased was a bold yet careful
flyer. He was not reckless, but was a man prepared to take risks
if the necessity arose. Knowing that Cammell was going to fly a
machine new to him, he asked him whether he minded flying it,
and deceased replied that he did not in the least, but that as it was
a strange machine to him he would not fly it in a wind, as he would
his own machine—a Bleriot. Deceased was very fond of trying sharp
turns on his own machine, and witness conjectured that deceased
might have tried to do too much. With regard to Mr. Barber's
suggestion as to the deceased forgetting the difference in the controls,
witness said that might have contributed to the accident.
Witness added that the War Office had recently asked him
whether it would be possible to have officers to fly more than one
type of machine, and he replied in the negative, but as Lieut.
CammeU was a very experienced flyer, he allowed him to fly this
machine. The one on which the fatality occurred was the only one
of the four machines presented by Mr. Barber to the Government
which carried a passenger.
Dr. George Cohen, the Coroner, in summing up, said he thought
that Mr. Cammell must have had some temporary loss of knowledge
or control of the machine and mistaken it for another. There could
hardly be any doubt he was intending to run a preliminary trial.
There was no evidence to show that the machine was affected.
83O